how much did you guys pay to switch your car from a carbed setup to a fuel injected one? ive been wanting to switch mine but on summit most of the holley/edlebrock systems are between $1,500 and $3,000! for that price i could get a whole PCM, T56 tranny and LS1 engine...am i missing something or are these terribly overpriced?

You're paying for the technology/engineering. Manufacturers make mass quantities of EFI units. Aftermarket companies make a few units.

OE systems must meet Federal emission standards. Aftermarket units can claim "For Off-road Use Only" to avoid the emission certification.

It depends on what you want out of it. If you want "fuel injection" alone, then a cheaper route might be one of the aftermarket types. I too, was in your situation about 5 years ago concerning this. I also wanted an overdrive transmission. Together I could have easily spent $4000 in the swap using the 350 that I had. I picked up a LT1/4L60E and did the swap. Unfortunatley it cost me alot more to go this route (more than $5000 in 2001). With a swap like the LS1/T56 there are many hidden costs. Like the $400-1200 in the fuel system alone. Then possibly a different trans crossmember can set you back more depnding on your fab skills. A wiring harness (painless or converted GM one) can add another few hundered $ and the list just keeps going.

Today's Gen 2/3 (LT1/LSx) motors are better engineered (esp LSX), and they are fun to drive/dependable. Unfortunatley the swap cost are steeper. A friend of mine is putting a mild 5.3/4l60E in his 72 nova to make a nice driver. He already has over $6000 in parts and will do most of the labor himself. He is using some some of the better parts, but there are cheaper ways. There are advantages to either way you go, it just depends on whether you are willing to spend more money. My conversion cost me more than I wanted to spend but I am happy with it. It starts without hesistaion (even after sitting for a while) and I get 24 MPG on the highway at 75 MPH. Hope this helps you.

Some years ago, I did a conversion with a Holley 4bbl TBI. It was a nice setup. Used the same Commander 950 digital controller as thier $2k plus port injection units but cost half as much. The thing ran really well, I'd buy it again.

i kind of wanted to stay away from TBI because i havent really worked on many of em. if i were to get an LSX i would get one of the truck 6.0L blocks. i already have an LT1 so i dont think i want another one, although it is a great engine. i can see where hidden fees would come in too, but on the plus side i can cut/wire/soder/read wiring diagrams, and fabricate simple stuff so that shoul help if i decide to go that route, and i do want an overdrive, prefferably a 6spd, but i may be able to get just that and use it with the engine i have now. does anyone know if these kits (holley, accel, edlebrock etc.) come with the PCM AND tuning software?if it does come with all that then i guess the kit is a bit more justified.

It really depends on what you're after. If you just want fuel injection for a show / trailer queen, mechanical injection can be made to work well, for slightly less I'd presume.

For a weekend cruzer with good milage and mild manners, an OEM setup could be cheaper. It depends mostly upon the heads and intake setup - can you bolt on parts from a doner or is an engine swap in order.

The big benefit to the aftermarket EFI systems is adjustability. If you're weekend cruizer is an 11:1 compression, low idle vacuum motor you'll appreciate the adjustability. Of course, that usually means you need a laptop computer, so you might as well keep your eyes open for one of those if you don't already have it.

BTW: A friend of mine created a 383 TPI motor out of a 1987 firebird donor car. He found most of the info he needed on http://www.thirdgen.org. Before he was done, he had reprogrammed the ECM more than 100 times while he tweaked spark and fuel curves. The problem with the TPI setup is that it looses steam around 4700 RPM or so. Larger runners may have bumped that up to 5000 RPM. The "swap" cost him about $3000 for the wreck, $3000 for the engine rebuild, $500 for an old laptop and programmer software, $400 in e-bay deals for wiring harness and other odd ball stuff. That's $7000 overall including a fresh mill.

yea i know it adds up. that was another plus side to the LSX engines, they all have some common parts, and the LS engines have a HUGE aftermarket. im lookin for a street brusiser...not a show car or trailer queen. if the summit efi kits come with tuning somftware then that would be a huge plus. im probably going to spend a bunch of money this winter building the 350 i have i just dont know if im gonna keep the carb or try to sell some things to afford the EFI unit ( i want the efi for the tuning ability, and the gas mileage). then i will probably save up for an LSX swap down the road.

The only one I'm intimately familiar with is Holley. Yes, it comes with tuning software, a real nice Windows program that can download to the PCM while the car is running. You can tune on the fly if you want, or just put all the sensors up on the laptop screen and watch it work.

Terribly over priced is putting it mildly. This technology is not that new, I just dont get it, you can explain to me engineering costs and R&D costs to Im blue in the face. If you dont price it for the mainstream hobbyist how is it ever going to take off. When I go to the cruise nights and car shows in my area of the country you dont see alot of efi under the hoods. The more people I talk to lately just cant justify the cost.

I want it bad for my pro-touring car, I probably got the best prices I could get and we are talking 3800.00 bucks. Manifold conversion/ fast xfi/ fast throttle body/ injectors/ harnesses/ fuel rails/ various sensors etc. And this does not include the fuel pump.

Yes its expensive, NUTTY expensive - Rich

I installed the Holley comander MPFI on My 427 sbc , it makes just over 600 horse and gets 21 mpg at 65 , I paid $2300.00 for the complete kit and I just love it .
Mark .

On my last TriFive with a ZZ3 crate motor , I went for the Edlebrock 3500 Proflow Multiport. I laid down little under $2K. I liked it as it was a stand alone computer and could adjust on the fly. Unitized fuel and timing. Sorta like a plug and play... It was intake duration chip specific. I had to change the Eprom to match the cam intake duration which was supplied from Edlebrock. I got lots of individual support from the tech group. The main engineer gave me his number for contact any time. I would up getting over 20mpg with 700R. Very easy to tune and again, on the fly. Had its own fuel map that you can change for your personal needs.

I installed the Holley comander MPFI on My 427 sbc , it makes just over 600 horse and gets 21 mpg at 65 , I paid $2300.00 for the complete kit and I just love it .
Mark .

nice, what tranny do u use?

Edelbrock 3503 system looks like the best deal at $2,030
I myself like the idea but have other priorities for my Nova, maybe in a few years the costs will come down enough to justify the swap.